Monday, May 7, 2018

How I'm Planning to Spend My First Law School Summer

I’m writing this blog post on April 4, 2018 – exactly 50 years to the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as he stood at a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Fifty years after his death, the social ill he fought most in his lifetime – the persistent scourge of racial segregation – is still very much alive in our country.

This summer, I’m externing at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which enforces California’s anti-discrimination laws in employment and housing. In particular, discrimination in housing continues on as a barrier to full racial integration of our communities. This injustice has quantifiable effects on our cities, including Los Angeles. Many of the worst problems cities face – pollution, poverty, violence – are more prevalent in communities that are more segregated.

I’m not under any kind of delusion that my three months of intern work at the DFEH will have much, if any, measurable effect on the current work being done there. And, of course, making even a small dent in the vast problem of segregation is a life’s work. But I couldn’t be more excited to be dedicating my summer, and maybe more down the road, to chipping away at the issue.

Even more, I’m excited to learn about the work that goes into enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and to meet attorneys who fight for fairer, more integrated communities on a daily basis. I doubt Dr. King would be satisfied or even particularly encouraged by the progress we’ve made in fighting segregation since he was killed. But I want to honor his memory, and the ideals he fought for, by pushing that fight along any way I can.